Self-Driving Bus Service to Start at Facility near Haneda Airport; Hoped to Serve as Model for Coping with Driver Shortage

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:32 JST, July 31, 2024

Major construction company Kajima Corp. has announced that it will begin in August operating passenger service with a bus capable of Level 4 autonomous driving, meaning that under certain conditions it does not require a human to be involved in controlling it.

The bus, which will run within a business complex near Haneda Airport, will be operated by Kajima in cooperation with other companies such as SoftBank subsidiary Boldly Inc.

The bus will travel at speeds of up to 12 kph along an 800-meter loop of road at the Haneda Innovation City complex in Ota Ward, Tokyo. For the time being, a staff member will be aboard the bus, which can carry 11 passengers, and may switch to manual operation in some situations. The bus’s operations will be monitored from a base in Ibaraki Prefecture.

As bus companies are now facing a serious and worsening shortage of drivers across the nation, hopes are high that know-how gained from this initiative will be utilized in the future. Kajima and Boldly have said they also intend to establish service on a route connecting the complex to Haneda Airport.